Z2 Comics Celebrates Sublime’s Legacy With ‘$5 At The Door’ Graphic Novel
by James Ferguson
Z2 Comics continues its streak of music-based comics with Sublime: $5 at the Door. The publisher has partnered with the SoCal band for their first-ever graphic novel celebrating the group’s legacy and chronicling their misadventures. Sublime’s laid-back Long Beach sound spawned an entire genre, mixing reggae grooves punk grittiness, ska energy, back-porch folk introspection, and hip-hop swagger.
Described as “Xanadu meets Superbad,” Sublime: $5 at the Door is an anthology written by Ryan Cady and illustrated by Audrey Mok, Alex Diotto, Hayden Sherman, Logan Faerber, Bill Masuku, Robert Ahmad, and more. It features a cover by Sublime family members Opie Ortiz and DJ Product 1969, plus Lou-Dog.
“We knew the band’s iconic music always had the added elements behind it of their history of hijinks, anti-authority attitude and follow-no-rules lifestyle, and this combination would make for an amazing comic book the fans would cherish.” Scott Seine, of Sublime’s management company Surfdog/DKM. “So a Z2 Comics collaboration was a no-brainer.”
“When you grow up in SoCal like I did, Sublime’s music is this powerful background radiation, permeating the culture ”says writer Ryan Cady. “You hear it everywhere. Opie’s sun is everywhere–stickers of it slapped on taco stand walls, sharpie-tagged inside of every high school bathroom, screen-printed in every possible iteration. I saw these guys like neighbors, and as I research the human moments underneath their phenomenon with Bud and Eric, I get to share that feeling with everyone who picks up the book.”
Publisher Josh Frankel says “The gritty California sounds of Sublime transcended location and musical genres to foster a state of mind in listeners from coast to coast and beyond. Our book will highlight Sublime’s vast musical influences and behind-the-scenes stories, all centered around the unbreakable bonds of friendship, and continuing in the tradition of essential graphic biopics we established with our Grateful Dead and Charlie Parker releases last year.”
Sublime: $5 at the Door clocks in at 120 pages. It will be released in a standard soft and hardcover editions in comic shops and bookstores in June 2021. A special deluxe edition and highly limited super deluxe edition are available for pre-order now exclusively through the Z2 Comics website. These include a special first-time vinyl edition of the Doin’ Time EP, exclusive prints, a Lou-Dog toy, and more.